I don’t think it’s coincidental that two of the greatest speakers in American history, Lincoln and King, were both ardent students of the Bible. Both acknowledged how much it shaped not just their world views, but their rhetoric. The psalms and the parables of Jesus — like the speeches of Lincoln and King — are so memorable, in part, because of the vividness of their imagery.

Perhaps one of the points that stuck with me the most was the sense of urgency – everything has to be done ‘now’. I’m willing to bet that few people left that gathering thinking “Yes, that’s a great idea, but we’ll get to it eventually.”

Positive, urgent language is underrated – more presenters could use this to great effect!

Apart from his frequent use of all the most important rhetorical techniques, one example of of his imagery that’s always impressed me, but isn’t often quoted, was early on in ‘I have a dream’ when he develops an apparently unpromising metaphor (about banks and banking) at some considerable length – which I posted with some comments on budget day last year at http://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2009/04/inspiring-banking-imagery-for-budget.html

I’ve also suggested that part of Obama’s genius was to ‘secularise’ MLK’s heavy use of biblical and religious imagery, while retaining clear connections with him -thereby widening his (Obama’s) appeal to a much wider constituency than Christians, Southern Baptists, etc. – on which there are a couple of illustrative video clips at http://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-rhetoric-identifies-with-martin.html